Common Pitfalls
Handling multiple uploads can be a lot more user friendly with a little help of javascript and form posting to iFrame...
To make it all a little bit more edible, you can use AJAX and divs to provide loader gifs etc...
Work with separate forms; note the target of each form = csr. It is the ID of an iFrame somewhere on the page. I call it CSR as short for Client-Server-Request.
Also note the hidden input formId that we will use in the php upload handler.
disable submitting the form using onsubmit="return false"...
Finally a button outside the form structure starting a javascript function onclick="upload(document.form_0, document.loader_0)"
<form onsubmit="return false" id="file_0" name="file_0" action="upload.php" target="csr" enctype="multipart/form-data" method="post" style="margin:px; padding:0px">
<table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
<tr>
<td>File 1:</td>
<td>
<input type="hidden" id="formId" name="formId" value="0" />
<input type="hidden" id="MAX_FILE_SIZE" name="MAX_FILE_SIZE" value="1000000" />
<input type="file" id="userFile" name="userFile" class="invulveld100pct" />
</td>
<td>
<div id="loader_0"></div>
</td>
</tr>
</table>
</form>
<form onsubmit="return false" id="file_1" name="file_1" action="upload.php" target="csr" enctype="multipart/form-data" method="post" style="margin:px; padding:0px">
<table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
<tr>
<td>File 2:</td>
<td>
<input type="hidden" id="formId" name="formId" value="1" />
<input type="hidden" id="MAX_FILE_SIZE" name="MAX_FILE_SIZE" value="1000000" />
<input type="file" id="userFile" name="userFile" class="invulveld100pct" />
</td>
<td>
<div id="loader_0"></div>
</td>
</tr>
</table>
</form>
<input type="button" onclick="upload(document.form_0, document.loader_0)" />
<iframe id="csr" name="csr" height="1" width="1" style="border:0px none"></iframe>
<!--//The javascript://-->
<script type="javascript">
function upload(form, loader){
//only do this if the form exists
if(form){
//display a loadbar
loader.innerHTML = 'loading.gif';
form.submit();
}
}
</script>
The php upload handler upload.php
Remember, your page will not refresh because the post is sent to your CSR iFrame.
<?php
//there are enough examples around to handle the upload...
//the only important difference is the error reporting and the starting of the next form upload...
//presume $uploadOk is a boolean that is true if the upload succeeds; false if it fails...
//note the use of "parent" in the outputted javascript... the script is outputted into the CSR iFrame... therefor it needs parent to acces dom objects and javascript of the main page.
$currentFormId = $_POST['formId'];
$nextFormId = $_POST['formId'] + 1;
echo "<script type=\"javascript\">";
//change the content of your loader div to a desired image
if($uploadOk){
echo "parent.loader_{$currentFormId}.innerHTML = 'uploadOk.gif';";
} else {
echo "parent.loader_{$currentFormId}.innerHTML = 'uploadNotOk.gif';";
}
//submit the next form... the javascript function will only perform it if the form exists.
echo "parent.upload(document.form_{$nextFormId}, document.loader_{$nextFormId});";
echo "</script>";
?>
This is just a quick draft of how to handle multiple files this way and I'm sure you would need to optimize the workflow to fit your needs, but the benifit of working this way is although your user still chooses multiple files, they are in fact posted one by one... This means your MAX_FILE_SIZE is determined for each file separately as opposed to the combined size of all files in one post.
I hope this is a contribution...
Uploading multiple files
Multiple files can be uploaded using different name for input.
It is also possible to upload multiple files simultaneously and have the information organized automatically in arrays for you. To do so, you need to use the same array submission syntax in the HTML form as you do with multiple selects and checkboxes:
Example #1 Uploading multiple files
<form action="file-upload.php" method="post" enctype="multipart/form-data"> Send these files:<br /> <input name="userfile[]" type="file" /><br /> <input name="userfile[]" type="file" /><br /> <input type="submit" value="Send files" /> </form>
When the above form is submitted, the arrays $_FILES['userfile'], $_FILES['userfile']['name'], and $_FILES['userfile']['size'] will be initialized (as well as in $HTTP_POST_FILES for PHP versions prior to 4.1.0). When register_globals is on, globals for uploaded files are also initialized. Each of these will be a numerically indexed array of the appropriate values for the submitted files.
For instance, assume that the filenames /home/test/review.html and /home/test/xwp.out are submitted. In this case, $_FILES['userfile']['name'][0] would contain the value review.html, and $_FILES['userfile']['name'][1] would contain the value xwp.out. Similarly, $_FILES['userfile']['size'][0] would contain review.html's file size, and so forth.
$_FILES['userfile']['name'][0], $_FILES['userfile']['tmp_name'][0], $_FILES['userfile']['size'][0], and $_FILES['userfile']['type'][0] are also set.
add a note
User Contributed NotesUploading multiple files
tom at nono dot be
18-Mar-2008 04:04
18-Mar-2008 04:04
hotmail.com[at]notdefix
27-Sep-2007 04:47
27-Sep-2007 04:47
With multiple file uploads
post_max_size: the total amount of data posted by the client (all files, and all other form field)
upload_max_filesize: the maximum size of 1 single file. (just like <input type="hidden" name="MAX_FILE_SIZE" value="..."/>)
so, with the directives:
post_max_size 25M
upload_max_filesize 2M
you can send 12 files of up to 2 MB and use up to 1 MB for your additional form-values.
As long as you read only a single copy of 1 file into memory, the memory_limit directive can be held reasonable small as well.
captlid at yahoo dot com
23-Feb-2007 03:08
23-Feb-2007 03:08
I noticed that the manual does not have a basic processing script for testing purposes to process multiple file uploads. It took me about an hour to figure this out so I figured it should help some newbie.
Also on windows, the OS does not care if you use backslashes and front slashes while writing up a directory path. So for compatibility with *nix just keep it as a foward slash.
(Tested with php5, php4, apache 1.3x and 2x, on winxp pro, win2k pro and win98se and freebsd.)
The script is kept simple for illustration purposes. Dont use it in a production environment.
The form
<form method="post" action="" enctype="multipart/form-data">
<input type="hidden" name="MAX_FILE_SIZE" value="500000">
<?
for($i = 1; $i <= $_POST[totalfiles]; $i++) { echo $i.'. <input type="file" name="photos[]"><br>'."\n"; }
?>
<input type="submit" name="sendfiles" value="Send Files"></form>
The processing script, for simplicities sake in the same file.
if ($_POST[sendfiles]) {
print_r($_POST); echo '<pre>'; print_r($_FILES); echo '</pre>';
$uploaddir = getcwd().'/photos/; //a directory inside
foreach ($_FILES[photos][name] as $key => $value) {
$uploadfile = $uploaddir . basename($_FILES[photos][name][$key]);
//echo $uploadfile;
if (move_uploaded_file($_FILES['photos']['tmp_name'][$key], $uploadfile)) { echo $value . ' uploaded<br>'; }
}
}
Bob Doe
08-Aug-2005 11:17
08-Aug-2005 11:17
Here is a the simple test form I needed, pieced togther from 2 or 3 posts in the documentation elsewhere.
<html>
<head>
<title>HTML Form for uploading image to server</title>
</head>
<body>
<form action="" method="post" enctype="multipart/form-data">
<p>Pictures:
<input type="file" name="pictures[]" />
<input type="file" name="pictures[]" />
<input type="file" name="pictures[]" />
<input type="submit" value="Send" />
</p>
</form>
<?php
//places files into same dir as form resides
foreach ($_FILES["pictures"]["error"] as $key => $error) {
if ($error == UPLOAD_ERR_OK) {
echo"$error_codes[$error]";
move_uploaded_file(
$_FILES["pictures"]["tmp_name"][$key],
$_FILES["pictures"]["name"][$key]
) or die("Problems with upload");
}
}
?>
</body>
</html>
29-Jul-2005 04:50
re: phpuser's comment
I found that if instead of the form structure at the top of the page use one like this:
<form action="file-upload.php" method="post" enctype="multipart/form-data">
Send these files:<br />
<input name="userfile1" type="file" /><br />
<input name="userfile2" type="file" /><br />
<input type="submit" value="Send files" />
</form>
Notice the names are unique and not an array element. Now the array is structured more like phpuser would like. I did this and used...
foreach ($_FILES as $file) { ... }
without issue.
sgoodman_at_nojunk_immunetolerance.org
17-Jun-2005 04:03
17-Jun-2005 04:03
Re: phpuser_at_gmail's comment, a simpler way to have create that data structure is to name your HTML file inputs different names. If you want to upload multiple files, use:
<input type=file name=file1>
<input type=file name=file2>
<input type=file name=file3>
etc...
Each field name will be a key in the $_FILES array.
bishop
02-Jun-2005 08:27
02-Jun-2005 08:27
Elaboration on phpuser at gmail dot com reArrayFiles() function (which assumed sequential, integer keys and uni-dimensional), this function will work regardless of key and key depth:
<?php
// information grouper
function groupFileInfoByVariable(&$top, $info, $attr) {
if (is_array($info)) {
foreach ($info as $var => $val) {
if (is_array($val)) {
groupFileInfoByVariable($top[$var], $val, $attr);
} else {
$top[$var][$attr] = $val;
}
}
} else {
$top[$attr] = $info;
}
return true;
}
// usage
$newOrdering = array ();
foreach ($_FILES as $var => $info) {
foreach (array_keys($info) as $attr) {
groupFileInfoByVariable($newOrdering, $info[$attr], $attr);
}
}
// $newOrdering holds the updated order
?>
phpuser at gmail dot com
26-May-2005 05:09
26-May-2005 05:09
When uploading multiple files, the $_FILES variable is created in the form:
Array
(
[name] => Array
(
[0] => foo.txt
[1] => bar.txt
)
[type] => Array
(
[0] => text/plain
[1] => text/plain
)
[tmp_name] => Array
(
[0] => /tmp/phpYzdqkD
[1] => /tmp/phpeEwEWG
)
[error] => Array
(
[0] => 0
[1] => 0
)
[size] => Array
(
[0] => 123
[1] => 456
)
)
I found it made for a little cleaner code if I had the uploaded files array in the form
Array
(
[0] => Array
(
[name] => foo.txt
[type] => text/plain
[tmp_name] => /tmp/phpYzdqkD
[error] => 0
[size] => 123
)
[1] => Array
(
[name] => bar.txt
[type] => text/plain
[tmp_name] => /tmp/phpeEwEWG
[error] => 0
[size] => 456
)
)
I wrote a quick function that would convert the $_FILES array to the cleaner (IMHO) array.
<?php
function reArrayFiles(&$file_post) {
$file_ary = array();
$file_count = count($file_post['name']);
$file_keys = array_keys($file_post);
for ($i=0; $i<$file_count; $i++) {
foreach ($file_keys as $key) {
$file_ary[$i][$key] = $file_post[$key][$i];
}
}
return $file_ary;
}
?>
Now I can do the following:
<?php
if ($_FILES['upload']) {
$file_ary = reArrayFiles($_FILES['ufile']);
foreach ($file_ary as $file) {
print 'File Name: ' . $file['name'];
print 'File Type: ' . $file['type'];
print 'File Size: ' . $file['size'];
}
}
?>